Learning some english recipes and enjoying food... as usual

Last week a friend of mine invite me to a professional cooking class... I couldn’t believe it! I love to learn from professionals and more in England where they cook different things from the ones I used to see cooked in my italian family.
The plan was to prepare a 3 course meal in less than 1 hour almost and ... To eat it all together! Just great!

So I went to Atelier Des Chef, an amazing place near Oxford Circus, very little from outside, but very well organized internally: there are 2 big kitchens, one on the street level and another downstairs and lots of cooking tools available to use in the class but especially to buy. A very cosy place with nice and welcoming people!
So we started our class around 11,30 with a Prosecco glass, gently offered, and the 3 course meal was composed by the following recipes:

Pea soup with crisp pancetta and garlic croutons
Crisp fillet of sea bass with braised fennel and brown shrimp vélouté
Chocolate and praline cream with espresso coffee emulsion and hazelnut financiers

We started with the preparation of the basic ingredients: cutting finely the onion, garlic, mint & chives, peeling the bread, and putting the potatoes to roast in the oven. And all these easy tasks were all quite difficult to do if you wanted to follow the chef's lesson: first thing He showed us how to properly cut the ingredients and it's so much more difficult of what I could have never thought!

Then we mixed some of the ingredients to prepare a very rich sauce for the veloute’ while some other were starting to deal with the mousse and financiers biscuits. This mousse made with the praline cream and the hazelnut dough for the biscuits were just great!

Finally, the financiers in the oven and the cream in the fridge, we places the fish to cook in the pan with just a little bit of oil, the fennel to boil and we concentrate on the soup, cooking the peas and frying the bread.

It was a really funny day and of course I don’t tell you how much good the food was! I loved my peas soup and the veloute’ was great, But for me the real revelation were the financiers biscuit, very similar to the "Magdalene", that I use to eat when I was little and that I loved sooo much! Now I even cooked them by my self!!! Great place and great experience!

And you? Have you ever been to some professional cookery class?

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Two different Spaghetti Nests

Yesterday I was surfing the net for some ideas for Easter, something for you to do with your  children, but also something  to decorate the table during the Easter lunch or  during the classic Easter breakfast with eggs and salami.

This year I will spend this day with my italian friend here in London, and could be nice to have a traditional feast. So here are two ideas for that day: Spaghetti Nests.

For the decorative Spaghetti Nest you will need:

1 box of Spaghetti
1 egg
some salt and nutmeg
extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Tools: Pot, baking dish from oven, oven paper, brush

Preheat the oven to 220 degree. Boil the Spaghetti in a big pot, to avoid to break them.
Place some baking paper on  the baking dish and spread a little oil on the bottom.

Drain the pasta with a fork and roll it, giving the form of a nest in the measure that you want. Arrange the nests on the baking sheet spaced, while in a bowl you will beat the eggs with a pinch of salt and the Parmesan cheese.
Brush the beaten egg on the spaghetti and bake them for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. They should be golden and crispy. Let them cool down and serve with the boiled eggs.

If instead you want to serve a little fun starter try the Spaghetti nest with peas and ham. You will need for 4 people:

40 g of flour
4 dl of cream
150 gr of Spaghetti Pastificio dei Campi                                                                                                        100 gr of peas                                                                                                                                                            100 gr cooked ham or little cube of pancetta if you want                                                                          1 little onion
2 tablespoons of Parmesan
Salt, pepper and olive oil

Take a pan and toast the flour for 2 minutes, then gradually add the cream and stir with a whisk, then add tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and stir. Put the cream in a bowl and let cool in refrigerator.
Cook the fresh peas in boiling water for 5 minutes, then take them out pass them in a pan with olive oil, some chopped onion and the ham cut in little pieces.

Boil the spaghetti , then drain and toss them with some of the sauce, made 8 little baskets and put them in a baking dish, decorated with the peas, the ham and some of the remaining cream.
Past the baskets in the oven at 200 ° C for 15 minutes and serve on a tray.

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The Italian traditional dishes for the festivities

This is the second Christmas on this blog and if last year I told you about the tradition of the Christmas eve, this year I will tell you a bit more about the traditional Christmas day menu.

As you probably know this day in Italy it’s really important, especially for the religious meaning of the celebration. So we respect the old tradition to don’t eat meat on the 24^th in the night and to have just dishes made with fish or vegetarian recipes. Last year I cooked Spaghetti with Smoked salmon and cream of courgettes but another classic, especially in the south are the vermicelli o linguine with clams.

On the 25^th instead everyone is free to cook anything you want, but the classic Italian tradition normally sees as a starter in the north some fresh pasta like the classic tortellini filled with meat, while in the south is really famous the timballo di maccheroni.

This recipe is so famous that has also been included in a really funny movie: BIG NIGHT, and here is the trailer where you can even have a little glimpse of it.

This is the recipe from the movie if you want to live a truly Italian Christmas Lunch.

Ingredients for around 8 people:

500g Millerighe di Gragnano, Pastificio dei Campi (for something a little smaller you can use the Mezzani Rigati), 50g butter 400g mozzarella 100g grated Parmesan 500g pork loin, 1  onion ,100g of pancetta in slices or bacon if you can’t find it, 1 glass of white wine, oil,salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, 3 bottle of tomatoes puree, bread crumbs, 1egg.

For the shortbread: 500g flour 250g sugar 6 egg yolks 250g butter.

Ok the recipe is a bit complex but it’s something you can actually do for a special occasion like the Christmas and you can even prepare it in two times. The first day you prepare the sauce, wrap the meat in the bacon, then brown it in a little olive oil with the chopped onion and herbs, pour the white wine, then add the tomatoes puree. When the sauce is thick, turn off the fire and pull out the meat, which you will use to prepare small meatballs (adding parmesan cheese, and egg and bread crumbs, soaked in milk and than squeezed). Then fry them in a little olive oil. 

The second day, prepare the dough, working all the ingredients and letting it rest for at least an hour. Meanwhile cook the pasta and add to the sauce, butter and Parmesan cheese. Grease a ring cake tin and cover with a disc of dough. Fill the dough alternating pasta, meatballs, mozzarella and more Parmesan cheese diced, and end with a layer of pasta (like in the picture from selfishcooking ). Close with a disc of puff pastry and seal well, brushing with a little 'egg yolk. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 ', let it cool and serve.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

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Pasta with asparagus, pancetta and pecorino cheese.

We are definitely in April... ok, maybe outside there is still a bit of rain and wind, but of course we hope in sunny and hot days soon!
 
Have you already been to your local fruit and veg shop or to your market, if you are so lucky to have one near? I did and I couldn't wait to buy some asparagus. They weren't the best ones yet, but at least fresh and in season!
 
I wanted to cook a recipe I have done once using rice. This time instead I wanted to use pasta so I needed to make it just a bit different: asparagus, pancetta and instead of the goat cheese, perfect to make the rice creamy, I added some pecorino cheese, salty and with a strong taste perfect for the pancetta and the delicate asparagus.

Here is this easy recipe to enjoy these spring vegetables:  
Ingredients for 3-4 people:

- 350 g di fusillata casareccia or pennoni (like mine in the picture) Pastificio dei Campi.

- 250 g wild asparagus.

- 100 g pancetta

- 1 onion

- 50 g grated pecorino

- Extra-virgin olive oil

- Salt and pepper  
Wash and chop the asparagus into small pieces, leaving the tips a bit longer. Slice the pancetta into strips and lightly cook them in a pan with a bit of olive oil.

Remove the pancetta and in the same pan, lightly brown the chopped onion, then add the asparagus. Taste for salt and pepper, add a few spoonfuls of water, and let cook for about 10 minutes.

Cook the pasta until al dente, then mix them in the pan with the asparagus and pancetta. Complete the dish with a sprinkling of grated pecorino, black pepper and serve!

For any other spring inspiration check here.

I hope you will enjoy!

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The classic Borlotti beans soup with Mista Corta

You can call it detox food, hot meal or even comfort food, but there is nothing better than pasta soups in winter and for me Pasta & Fagioli is just the most traditional italian soup you can cook: easy, with just few simple genuine ingredients and really delicious.

This is part of our reach gastronomic history, and it's one of these dishes made in all the regions, from North to South. There are slightly different versions everywhere, but Pasta e Fagioli it's really a national dish, thanks also to the cheap nature of the ingredients and the high energy provided.

This is the way I made it following the advices and secrets of the master Giuseppe Di Martino and few other voices, (my mum included). I discovered for example that you can have a light version, a middle reach and a very reach one, of course my favorite and for me the most traditional.

Here the ingredients for 4 people:

400 gr dry Borlotti beans

250 gr Pasta Mista Corta from Gragnano, Pastificio dei Campi.

a bit of celery, chili, some garlic cloves finely chopped

olive oil, salt, pepper,

140 gr of pancetta

a sprinkle of parsley

The first thing to do it's to soak the beans overnight or for 12 hours at least. Then change the water and hot up in a pan some olive oil. Cut finely the celery, the chili and some garlic cloves (this is called "trito" in Italy), place them in the pan and let them fry (we call this "soffritto" instead). Once this is ready, add the pancetta cut in cubes or little pieces and then the Borlotti beans.

Add enough water to make them boil and stir from time to time. They will need around one hour, one hour and half. Add water when you see they need more to cook and at the end adjust the taste with some other salt if needed. When they will be almost ready, take the beans out and mash half of them.

In the meantime, in the same water, cook the pasta Mista Corta, that translated means "short mix". This pasta is in fact a combination of different little shapes and the tradition said this comes from the families' need to use the left-overs of the other pasta shapes. By the way the Mista Corta is just perfect for this recipe.

Here is the most important step of all the recipe:  when the pasta cooks in the same water where the beans have been cooked, the starch will be released and it will mix with the rest of the ingredients creating the characteristic thick and tasty soup.

When the pasta is almost ready, bring back the beans, stir and let everything cook for some minutes more. If the soup is too thick, add some more water and stir. Serve it hot with the sparkle of parsley and just a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. This will amplify the beans and pancetta taste in the soup, much more than some flakes of Parmesan. Trust me!

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From the center of Italy to your table in only 10 minutes.

Have you ever cooked pasta at home? Maybe yes, but what about pastaamatriciana? It's one of the most traditional dishes in Italy, especially in Rome: Amatrice in fact is a town really close to this amazing city . The recipe is very quick, simple but really tasty...
 
This sauce goes particularly well with a special type of pasta: bucatini. Do you know it? It's a long pasta, similar to spaghetti but it's thicker and  bigger and has an hole in the middle! This makes the pasta not too heavy, but still more consistent than a classic spaghetto. Normally this kind of pasta could be quite hard to find in London, but now with Pastificio dei Campi you can find it at Harvey Nichols or online at Food in the city. 

So if you are tired of  always cooking spaghetti with the same tomato sauce, than this is  certainly  the time for you to try this recipe...especially now with the arrive of the new shallots  in the supermarkets! A few simple products will give you a complete and delicious dish, and because it's so quick and easy, why don't invite some friends for dinner like i did last night?

Ingredients for 4 - 5 people:

 - 500 gr of  Bucatini Pastificio dei Campi

 - 2 small shallots

- 200 gr of guanciale, if you can't find this you can use pancetta
 
- 500 gr of tomato passata

- 80 gr of Pecorino romano

- extra virgin olive oil

- salt, pepper and a bit of chilli peppers

Heat some olive oil in a pan and add the guanciale or pancetta cut in little pieces. Then add the chopped shallots (tastier than a regular onion) and wait for them to cook a bit on a medium fire.

When the shallots become transparent, add the tomato passata, with some salt, pepper and the chilli peppers cut  in thin slices. In the meantime boil water with some salt  and when ready add the pasta and cook for around 6 minutes. While you are waiting for the passata and the rest to cook, grate some roman Pecorino cheese. This looks very similar to Parmesan cheese but it's saltier and has a stronger taste.

Check on the sauce. If it’s getting too dry, turn off the fire until the pasta is ready. Then drain the pasta, but keep some water on a side just in case. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss it whilst the pan is on the fire so the pasta will be able to absorb the great sauce and flavours.

Serve it on a plate with some grated pecorino on top and fresh grated black pepper if you like it. I hope you will enjoy the bucatini and this real roman recipe.

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